What are your eBay pet peeves?

[Uzumaki]

As a buyer, I have a few peeves with sellers:

1. Seller who uses very tiny picture. Like 20 pix by 20 pix postage stamp sized
   
2. Seller who don't check for reflection when taking picture. I've seen nasty reflection though none came close to the infamous kettle porn (warning, NSFW)
   
3. Clean the damn floor if you're taking picture of item on the floor. If the floor looks like shit house, I'd assume the item were treated the same way and look elsewhere.
   
4. Seller who doesn't include useful description such as color, condition, etc. Just be lazy and say "see picture" (bonus: only one picture and nothing about the back)
   
5. Seller who include picture that says "Picture coming soon" and never update with real picture
   
6. I ask seller for more information, the seller respond "See picture" without answering question. Bonus if the picture is from peeve #3
   
7. Seller who can't pack things properly. I've had a few things destroyed due to lack of wrapping, soft and squishy box, or big item with sharp corner in envelope.
   
8. Seller trying to sell "untested" item that are in fact tested to not work. Sometimes the seller even have (for example) tested and working game console in other auction at the same time as "untested" game cart.
   
9. Seller who uses generic picture for used item, and not bother to take proper picture that can show item's actual condition. Generic is fine for new and sealed item but not for used item when condition often matters.
   
10. Seller who claims item location is USA but ships from somewhere else. If I am searching, and limited search to USA it's probably because I don't want to wait 3 or 4 weeks for oversea mail.
    
11. Seller who claims item were shipped but never provide tracking when it's been weeks since I paid. Seller always lost INR claim because they never had tracking # because the never shipped at all.
    
12. Seller who cancel and relists at higher price. Especially after I won and paid.
    
13. Seller whose definition of mint includes everything that still works. Even with ripped label and used as a dog chew toy are still considered "mint"
    
14. Seller that abuses the word rare. Even dirt from their backyard is "rare"
    

 

As a seller I had a few:

1. Buyer who asks for discount or something AFTER auction ended.
   
2. Buyer who bought a few of my stuff that all had free shipping, then asks me to combine and give free shipping because he bought a few. (3x free shipping is still free last I checked)
   
3. Buyer who don't read description or check detailed picture, and complain about a crack that was very well documented in picture and description.
   
4. When I say I do not ship outside USA, it's because I am not shipping outside USA. (usually huge or heavy item). I still get asked if I ship outside.
   
5. This was before eBay made possible to block buyer who do not have Paypal account: people who don't read my description and ask if I take bank transfer, wire, western union, etc AFTER winning the auction. (often the buyer doesn't have Paypal anyway)
   
6. I don't list with 10,000 different shades of color. I only use color that are found in a box of 8 crayons. I had a buyer upset with me because I listed red widget as just red, the picture "looked" like blood red to the buyer but the buyer got item that "looked" like rust red. People sees color differently, camera sees color differently, and monitor shows color differently too. If anyone needed the absolute exact color, don't use internet visit a store.
   
7. Buyer who refuses to pay $10 shipping after buying auction, stating it should be ship-able for $2. $2 might be possible if I slipped glass ornament in a plain envelope and sent it media mail with no padding at all, but for fragile item I use box and plenty of wrapping, and the shipping cost usually come closer to my displayed shipping amount.
   
8. Non paying buyer. All I can do is complete UID but I can't leave feedback "Buyer never paid" because too many sellers abused the feedback. If you're not going to pay, don't waste my time.
   
9. "Will you sell it for $xx?" If the BIN is not showing, either it has a bid on it or I wasn't sure what it's worth and wanted to let run the full time.
   
10. A really lowball offer. If I forget to set auto-reject on BIN auction, and get a really lowball offer, I may counter offer that is 1 cent lower than my BIN. Once when I was in bad mood, I accepted the offer (5% of original BIN) then sent an invoice with the shipping raised to offset the difference.
    
11. buyer who switches item and sends different one back for refund. Just got burned by this, sent a mint label game, got different one back that isn't mint.
    

Do you have any other peeves?

[Nall3k]

I think you've covered all of my experiences...

[akator]

Sellers who list every possible unnecessary detail about an item but don't say or show in photos if an item is working.

 

It is amazing the number of times I have to go through eBay's stupid "contact the seller" multiple choice, form, and captcha to ask the most obvious question: "Does it work?"

[PsychedelicShaman]

Not sure if this is the place, but I feel like venting a couple stories: A long while back before ebay charged fees on shipping, I purchased an item for 7.00 with like 13.00 shipping fully knowing there was no way shipping was going to be near that price. The seller sends me an invoice with an extra 2.00 handling charge. No where in the auction did it state this fee was going to be added. I complained loudly and she says "no one ever had an issue with the fee, but i'll take it off for you" Package comes with paper covering the original box with $3.XX shipping stamped on.

 

Recently, I bid on a laseractive sampler cd, I check out his other auctions to see if he has anything good, he has nothing, and I lose the auction. This was in the auction description, so I should have known the guy was a little off:

 

Available again, because someone tried to Siggi sieg heil (clickclick) a fast one past me a couple weeks ago. This particular scam is also know as fellating a "duke".

 

Attention/achtung!! This sampler contains artists from Private Music's 1993 roster, and TD was not among them (they were included in the title line since most Tangerine Dream fans collect Private Music material as well due to the Peter Baumann connection). I mention this because apparently **certain people** (clickclick) who have been collecting TD for 30+ years somehow aren't aware of that (very basic) fact.

 

Next, he sends me a message with links to his auctions inside, and another spam message about a week later.

 

I respond:

When I was originally bidding on the Laseractive CD, I checked out your other auctions. I'm sorry I didn't win your auction, but I don't appreciate the spam.

 

He responds:

Funny. I actually felt bad you had gotten sniped at the last moment and was going to offer to send you the other one I have for free, but apparently that would be "spam" as well since you didn't ask for it. So I'll just block you as a bidder now, and that way we can avoid this issue in the future.

 

Then we go back and forth a little, but you get the gist.

 

So I guess my pet peeves are hidden handling charges and receiving spam from sellers

[Algus]

Speaking of rare, reminds me of a couple weeks ago when I spied a silver label Asteroids that someone wanted $60 for because it was rare.

[roadrunner]

Games that reek of cigarette smoke. :thumbsdown:

[roadrunner]

Speaking of rare, reminds me of a couple weeks ago when I spied a silver label Asteroids that someone wanted $60 for because it was rare.

 

I seen that listing, the price used to be alot higher. Around $90 or $100

[boxpressed]

As a buyer, I'm annoyed by

 

1. Sellers selling one item shown in a group photo. The photo shows five boxed games, but the seller is selling only one of them. Too lazy to take a separate photo of each.

2. Sellers asking buyers to "pick X number of these games" rather than selling a specific item in a listing. Too cheap to open an eBay store.

[akator]

the infamous kettle porn (warning, NSFW)

 

Now that is what I call entertainment.

[Manoau2002]

1. Sellers who knowingly sell fake/bootleg/reproductions and claim they are real.

 

2. Sellers who insist they have shipped stuff they haven't

 

3. Sellers who list stuff on ebay then go on a long holiday or business trip

 

4. Sellers who do not bother to post a description of an item just a picture.

 

5. Sellers who have items listed international in a language other than english

 

 

[shadow460]

1. Clueless buyers. If it says I don't ship outside the USA, there's a reason. No I don't ship to Canada, especially after reading a rant over at OKRGS about shipping to Canada.

 

2. Clueless sellers. Do they really think I'm stupid enough to send them a money order for more than $10? Case in point was a LaserActive that was just screaming for a side deal. It was listed as the player with buyer's choice of the Sega pack or the karaoke pack. I obliged him and offered a side deal on the karaoke pack only. His reply was that he couldn't accept PayPal or a credit card. I told him that if I paid $175 for something online I HAD to have some kind of recourse just in case the deal went wrong. I never heard from him again after that.

 

3. Crybabies is general. OK, so as a seller, you did something stupid and you don't wanna make it right. You get negative for that, and no amount of whining is going to change that. Learn from it and go on. I'm just another cat tryin' to make it, and I sell just like you except I make sure my stuff is accurately listed, packed correctly, and backed by a warranty. So why can't I leave negative feedback when you refuse to throw in a buck worth of bubble wrap... or something at least to keep my item from getting knocked around in shipping?

Also, don't give me this crap you can't return something valuable because your kid ripped up the only copy you had of my return address. What, did she rip up your email account? Stuff it, 'cause I don't buy that mess. Also, if you're not wanting me to take any action for a defective item, I do appreciate that (because I goofed up and you're very forgiving), but don't go open a case over that and then just leave it. I told you, my stuff's under warranty, so if it doesn't work, I'm more than happy to issue a refund. If the item sold cheap, you might not even have to return it, either.

 

4. People who make lowball offer after lowball offer, increasing the offer by a few cents every time until they finally figure out what your bottom dollar is. I'm going to start leaving a gap between auto accept and auto decline, and when someone makes a lowball offer, it'll be ignored.

 

5. This doesn't apply so much to ebay as it does in person, but people who claim "they don't know what X system's stuff is worth." OK, I believe that to an extent, but if you're collecting or reselling classic games and you have a smart phone to price you own stuff with, look up what you're about to take in. Otherwise, I really will be tempted to tell you that a silver label Asteroids is worth $60 in trade, just to get you started looking stuff up. If your friend can sit there and look up 32X T-Mek to see it's worth $24, then she can look up a Game Gear Star Wars cart or a 2600 Gorf cart to see they're worth $10 and $5 respectively. That applies to everyone, but Jimmy just happened to be the first person I thought of a minute ago. (Jimmy if you're reading this, thanks for the trade anyway. )

 

Other than that, it's the typical non paying bidders and people who refuse to look a the 12 photos and read the item description.

[ianoid]

"the shipping charge is for the cost of the bubble mailer and me traveling to the post ofice and the charge for shipping at the post office. I cannot change the shipping cost sorry."

 

this

 

And the shipping charge is for my gasoline and for maintenance on my car and for my lunch and for my bandaids and for my kleenex and for my keyboard and for my mouse and for my thinking etc

[Mayhem]

When I say I do not ship outside USA, it's because I am not shipping outside USA. (usually huge or heavy item). I still get asked if I ship outside.

I've often asked US sellers if they would ship outside the US, and many of them have replied "yes". They also note they forgot to change the shipping areas for the auction in question. So this is why I always ask, because sellers sometime make mistakes. If the answer is "no", then I'd hope for a polite response. And then I'd probably bid anyhow, and have it shipped to my US address instead.

[Manoau2002]

I've often asked US sellers if they would ship outside the US, and many of them have replied "yes". They also note they forgot to change the shipping areas for the auction in question. So this is why I always ask, because sellers sometime make mistakes. If the answer is "no", then I'd hope for a polite response. And then I'd probably bid anyhow, and have it shipped to my US address instead.

 

I have asked a few to ship to Canada as well. I think many sellers are leary of doing business with different countries for a variety of reasons. I find many change there minds if you are from a country they see as trustworthy. As a buyer I have to make an attempt at sometimes contacting these sellers. Ebay Canada simply doesn't have the selection of ebay.com

[icemanxp300]

I hate Bubble Mailers.

 

As far as international shipping goes. I don't offer it anymore but if someone from a different country takes the time to ask me if I will ship to them, I will consider it.

 

As far as the statement above about no description. I always put a few sentences. Stuff like tested and working, then I will say see pics. Especially if I am selling like 100 games. You got eyes look at the pics for titles I'm not listing them all.

[Algus]

To continue with the "no pictures" or "stock photo" theme, here's a listing that annoys me. Now why the heck are you going to put in a picture of an XEGS and then write a huge wall of text explaining that your item isn't the item pictured?

[Armonigann]

^ I don't know, but you sure are one ugly dude... ...but on a more serious note, Ebay is my Pet Peeve.

[Algus]

LMAO

 

I have lost a lot of weight since this picture was taken (still a fatty though). I need to get a new one but I haven't another with my USA Soccer stuff on.

[Serious]

I've bought and sold a huge amount on eBay over the last 6 months, and while I've been burned as a seller (charge backs and non-payments, for example), most of my pain has been as a buyer.

 

My gripes/issues from the last few months:

 

1. Live insects inside the package that crawled out when I opened it. (Really turned my wife off on my Atari collecting hobby.)

2. Boxed games stuck in an envelope and crushed during shipping. (over and over again)

3. Seller explicitly described R9 item as NTSC and it was PAL.

4. Very rare mint condition box had bubble wrap taped directly to it, then stuck inside a flimsy box, after I paid the seller $14 extra to package it carefully.

5. Seller is too busy to ship the item (or respond to my messages), more than 3 weeks after I sent payment (an ongoing issue with a purchase I made last month).

6. Item (described as 'like new') I received is in poor condition and isn't the same item that was in the photos. (Happened twice last month. Boxed items that looked like new in the photos, and damaged box items received.)

7. Item is described as sealed, but it isn't.

8. Big lots of non-working loose carts covered in filth (not visible in photos), requiring an hour or more of cleaning.

9. Seller who ships me an item that was obviously broken (after I inquire before purchasing whether or not it works) accusing me of "abusing the system" when I open a buyer protection case.

10. Seller never shipped my game because he couldn't figure out how to print the label, then gave me a refund about 4-5 months later.

11. Expensive boxed game shipped inside a flimsy dog biscuit box, and similar instances where the seller's garbage was used as packing material. (I'm not talking newspaper used as padding. I'm talking stuff they probably pulled out of the trash.)

12. Package smells bad when I open it. (And my sense of smell is poor.)

 

I think I'm almost at the point where I'm done with buying on eBay. (My wife will be so glad.)

[boxpressed]

LMAO

 

I have lost a lot of weight since this picture was taken (still a fatty though). I need to get a new one but I haven't another with my USA Soccer stuff on.

 

A more dignified response than the original post deserved. Nice to see some self-deprecation on Atari Age. So many people so concerned about being smarter than everyone else.

[+poobah]

I received some 19" metal wall brackets today that the seller bent almost in half to make them fit in the box!

[RGB_Gamer]

Mine is when people dont look at ypur item title and description, and ask questions that they dont need to if only they look at your title and description

[Atari8guy]

Mine is when I take the time to list shipping costs or list the package dimensions and weight and then provide a link to the shipping company...and people still ask....

 

"How much to ship that to XXXX?" I've given you the details you can go to Canada Post and get that info just as easy as I can. I don't charge extra for shipping unless it's a large item AND I have to go buy special packaging.

[bah]

I have several gripes but one not covered above:

 

Auction for several games at a reasonable buy it now price, but with $25 shipping that makes it a bad deal. I check and its less than 15 minutes away so I ask about local pickup. Seller responds the next day that this is no problem. I go to the ebay add to buy and bingo the price went up $25! I laugh now but my response then was something less than congenial.

[bah]

OOh ooh, and how about the lady that shipped me a completely smashed cart. The package didn't feel right so I documented that it was not opened or ripped in any way but when I opened it less than half of the cart shell was in the package. Cart didn't work and looked like someone stepped on it. Sent her a nice email explaining, After 4 more emails detailing what I found over a 3 week period she still did not respond at all. I gave negative feedback. So did she because I did not allow for "postal damage out of my (her) control".